


What Happens on a Space Whale, Stays on a Space Whale

by Kdragon1209



Series: Keith Needs Hugs [4]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Childhood Memories, Childhood Trauma, Forgiveness, Galra Keith (Voltron), Gen, Half-Galra Keith (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) Angst, Orphan Keith (Voltron), POV Keith (Voltron), Unresolved Emotional Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:33:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27247339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kdragon1209/pseuds/Kdragon1209
Summary: “Why didn’t you come back?” Keith demanded, absolutely seething now. The cosmic wolf pup whined at Keith’s sudden mood change. He was on his feet, ready to bolt or fight her, he didn’t know which, but he was just so angry. He knows why she left and why she had to stay away, but it couldn’t kill her to come back at all?“I did come back,” Krolia whispered.Keith paused and wasn’t sure he heard her right. “What?”Krolia drew her legs up and hugged her knees. “I did come back,” she repeated. “Once.”
Relationships: Keith & Krolia (Voltron)
Series: Keith Needs Hugs [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2038546
Comments: 8
Kudos: 84





	What Happens on a Space Whale, Stays on a Space Whale

**Author's Note:**

> A mini fix-it fic for me. I think the portrayal of Keith reuniting with his mother could have been done better (obviously he's not going to accept her right away after being out of the picture for so many years), but hey! That's what fan fictions are for! 
> 
> Petition to change fix-it fics to fanfix. Get it?

Something Krolia said suddenly set Keith off. Or maybe it was something she had done. Whatever it was, the little things had been building up over time suddenly became too much. After being forced to live around her for months, her little mannerisms had gradually become oddly motherly in some way. They had been small annoyances to begin with, but as they grew more frequent, his annoyance grew into irritation and then into resentment.

Keith had no idea how long they were going to be stuck on this stupid space whale, but he wasn’t sure how much longer he could take. She had no right after 19 years of nothing to suddenly show up in his life and try to pretend to be motherly—of which she was doing a terrible job at anyways.

“Why didn’t you come back?” Keith demanded, absolutely seething now. The cosmic wolf pup whined at Keith’s sudden mood change. He was on his feet and ready to bolt or fight her, he didn’t know which, but he was just so _angry_. Keith knew he shouldn’t go down that rabbit hole, but he did anyways. All his loneliness and feelings of abandonment came rushing back, manifesting as anger. He had been bottling it up and letting it build inside for so long that he knew he was dangerously close to bursting. He wasn’t sure if he was going to blow his top or cry, but when tears began to sting his eyes, it seemed that it was going to be the latter. He knows _why_ she left and _why_ she had to stay away, but it couldn’t kill her to come back at _all?_ He spent his entire life thinking he was worthless and no one wanted him. At some point he convinced himself that his mother had died, because even that was better than imagining that she was still alive out there somewhere and didn’t want him.

“I did come back,” Krolia whispered.

Keith paused and wasn’t sure he heard her right. “What?”

Krolia drew her legs up and hugged her knees. “I did come back,” she repeated. “Once.”

Keith stood there, stunned and speechless. He wracked his brain, trying to remember anything, _anything_ about her, but to his frustration, he could not. He was upset enough that he was about ready to accuse her of lying, but he had never seen such a raw look of emotion on Krolia’s face before. She was always so stoic and business-like, but now she had a faraway look to her, her eyes hooded and her face somber but sad.

Krolia took a deep breath. “I came back—once—I think about…seven or eight deca-pheobs after I left,” she began slowly. “I happened to be in a nearby sector doing little odds and ends for the empire—mostly reconnaissance and intelligence gathering. It was a small spaced out crew of six and we wouldn’t see each other for a month or two, so I stole an unmarked ship and made a side trip to Earth.”

Keith blinked at her, unsure if he was ready to believe she was telling the truth. Realistically, he supposed that she didn’t really have anything to gain by lying to Keith, but he was still wary.

“It took me a little bit to remember where the house was, but I found it and landed several miles away in the middle of the desert, far enough that no one would find the ship. But when I got to the house, it was empty,” Krolia continued. “Everything was how it was when I left. I waited to see if anyone would come back, but no one did. I didn’t know if you were out doing groceries or another human thing, but hours turned into a day which turned into days, but no one came. I didn’t know where you and your father went, if you were on vacation or what. I had no way to contact either of you, and it’s not like I could go out and search for you, so I waited, but no one ever came. I had the fearful thought that someone had taken the Blue Lion, but I would have heard about that, and I checked the cave; it was still there. ”

Keith didn’t move from his spot, desperately trying to figure out when him and his father would have been gone for that long. “How long did you wait?” Keith asked quietly.

Krolia took a deep breath and sighed. “I waited a movement, which is all I figured I could afford to be away. I thought—” her voice cracked. “I thought that he had moved you—that he regretted deciding to have you with me and moved you away. I wondered if he decided to remarry and raised you with someone else. He probably just wanted you to have a normal childhood, I know, but I thought maybe he didn’t want you to know you were half-alien—that you belonged to a lineage of blood-thirsty monsters that were conquering the universe, galaxy by galaxy, planet by planet. But still I waited, futilely holding onto the hope that maybe you’d come back. I knew I couldn’t wait any longer than a movement without causing any suspicion from the Galra, but I was crushed,” Krolia explained.

She then gave an odd rueful chuckle. “I would have scoured the planet to find you if I could, but obviously a purple alien running around would not have been a good idea. But leaving a second time without knowing where you were or if you were even _alive_ hurt more than I could have imagined, but I stayed away for good after that. I could have put you all in so much danger and I figured the best thing to do was to stay as far away from Earth as possible and make sure the Empire did too. I climbed in the ranks to make sure of it. It hurt— _so bad—_ to stay away; I just wanted to hold my baby one more time.” Krolia suddenly look up at Keith with a fierce but loving expression, one that he had never seen on her before, even after she first revealed she was his mother. But Keith was perhaps even more shocked to see tears forming in the corners of her eyes. “I never imagined in a million deca-pheobs that my son would come to space and find _me,”_ Krolia whispered. 

Keith had no idea what to think, let alone say, so he stayed quiet, his brain trying to process the information. _A week,_ Keith’s mind echoed, simultaneously translating it. _She came back and waited a week, and we weren’t there. Just exactly where were we?_ Keith’s eyes widened as something suddenly occurred to him, sending chills rushing down his spine. He didn’t want to believe it was true—no—it _couldn’t_ be true. He kept trying to come up with some other reason; there _had_ to be some other explanation as to why they were gone for that long. Keith found that the more he thought about it, the more he kept circling back to the idea.

It was the only thing that made sense.

Keith opened his mouth to speak, but found no words would come. Keith took a deep breath and gathered his voice. “When—…when did you say you came back?” he asked.

Krolia’s eyes flicked up to meet his before glancing away and she sniffed. “I don’t quite remember, but it was seven or eight deca-pheobs after I left, which was a pheob after I had you.”

_No._

Keith’s legs suddenly gave out from underneath him and he fell on his rear, mouth hanging open and completely stunned. So that meant she came back when he was about seven or eight years old, about when…

Krolia noticed his changed mood and wiped her eyes. “Keith? Are you okay?”

But Keith didn’t hear her. _She said seven or eight years after I was born and we weren’t there for a week. That_ has _to be after…after dad died. She probably missed me by not even a couple weeks before I was shipped off to foster care, and she would have had no way of knowing._ Keith shivered, wondering how different his life could have been if she had only came a couple weeks earlier. She had no idea of knowing what had happened and had built up all these worries about herself—worries that were so _achingly_ familiar to Keith.

He didn’t want to believe her. It was awful of him to think like that, he knew, but he didn’t want to believe her. It was easier to be angry at her and blame her for everything that went wrong in his childhood, but deep down, Keith knew it was true. And the worst part was that he understood. He knows he’s not the greatest with understanding other people’s emotions, but he found that he understood _this_ perfectly. He knew exactly what it felt like to wonder if people he knew didn’t want to be associated with him because he was Galra. 

Keith’s body moved on its own and he got up and walked over to Krolia. She didn’t say anything, even when he knelt down and half-hugged, half-climbed into her lap. She stiffened at first, unsure by the physical contact, but she eventually relaxed and wrapped her strong arms around him. Keith hugged her tighter in response, digging his fingers into the fabric of her suit as tears began to drip down his face.

Without warning, there is another flash of light, simultaneously sharing both of their memories with each other. Keith sees Krolia kneeling down on the floor of the shack, clutching Keith’s old baby blanket to her chest and crying. Krolia in turn sees Keith holding the few things he was allowed to bring and a dejected look on his face as he met a couple strangers—presumably Keith’s first foster parents—after the funeral.

The vision ends, and Keith feels a couple of droplets land on his shoulder. He looks up and discovers that Krolia is full-on crying now, but he doesn’t care, because she’s his mother, and she had always loved him (and it _definitely_ doesn’t have to do with the fact that he’s sobbing as much as she is). Keith shifts and buries his head in her chest as tears stream from his eyes. He didn’t know how long they stayed there like that, but it was a moment that had been long overdue.

“I’m sorry,” Krolia whispered after a while. Her voice was so thin and tight with emotion, like it was taking all of her strength to muster her voice.

“I’m sorry too,” Keith sniveled. The space wolf pup whined and nuzzled his way under Keith’s arm, attempting to get in between them. Keith broke away with a wet laugh and allowed the pup through. Krolia chuckled too and began petting the pup while Keith gave him an affectionate head rub.

“Do you think your father would approve of the wolf?” Krolia wondered, a small grin across her face.

Keith blinked at her, unsure if she just made a joke or not. “Depends, you gonna try and name it Yorak?” he teased.

“Yorak is a wonderful Galra name!” Krolia said indignantly. Keith couldn’t help but role his eyes and chuckle. If there’s one thing he wished he could go back and thank his dad for, it’s saving him from a life of misery with the name Yorak.

Another round of bright light flashed, enveloping them and pulling them into another vision again. Keith immediately knew this one was different. Whereas other visions had been of their memories or the occasional glimpse of the future, this one seemed to be depicting both the past and the future. Keith saw himself sitting at a table with a cake with candles in front of him, with one of Krolia’s arms draped over his shoulder. Keith has one arm around her and one around an older-looking version of the cosmic wolf pup—who Keith still had not yet named.

But to Keith’s surprise, on the other side of him was…was his father. He looked just like Keith remembered him and had one arm draped over both Keith and Krolia, sandwiching Keith in the middle. 

A stray tear fell from Keith’s eye, but it was one of bittersweet happiness. He grinned and looked at Krolia—no—at his mother, and saw an expression on his face that mirrored his own.

Unfortunately, Keith knew problem wouldn’t resolve itself overnight, but it was a step in the right direction. It would take some time getting to know each other and to heal old psychological wounds, but Keith found that he was ready to try to repair the rift between them.

And the very first step to that was forgiveness.


End file.
